One To One - Syreeta

One of the five releases that comprise SoulMusic Records’ October 2012
"Motown-themed” month (featuring artists who recorded at some point for the
globally famous label), ONE TO ONE was the third Motown album by the late,
multi-talented singer/songwriter Syreeta.

As Rita Wright, Syreeta began her Motown journey in February 1968 with
the release of a one-off single. Later
that year, Syreeta met label hitmaker Stevie Wonder who encouraged her to
develop her songwriting skills; as a result, the pair began collaborating,
penning songs such as ‘It’s A Shame’ for The Spinners and ‘Signed, Sealed,
Delivered (I’m Yours)’ for Wonder himself.

Syreeta’s musical partnership with Wonder led to their 1970 marriage and
in 1972, Wonder produced her self-titled MoWest debut LP; in 1974, he also
produced the album Stevie Wonder Presents
Syreeta.

A truly remarkable piece of music, her third album ONE TO ONE was
produced by Syreeta and then-new husband, musician Curtis Robertson, Jr. with
whom she wrote four songs and Motown stalwart Leon Ware (fresh off the
triumphant Marvin Gaye LP, I Want You)
who collaborated on three songs for the project; one track, the R&B charted
and popular UK single, ‘Harmour Love,’ was written and produced by Stevie
Wonder in 1975.

Only previously available as a Japanese CD ONE TO ONE, this reissue
includes liner notes by renowned US writer, A. Scott Galloway with quotes from
Leon Ware and Curtis Robertson Jr.

Take advantage of our special mail order bundle deal, buy 2 Edwin Starr albums - 'Soul Master' and 'Involved' for just £14.99!!

EDWIN STARR hailed from Nashville, Tennessee and is best remembered for
his rasping Vietnam protest song ‘War’ from 1970. After a stint as
vocalist for Bill Doggett’s touring band Starr was able to secure a solo
recording deal with Detroit's Ric-Tic Records in 1965 and immediately
gained chart success with his self- penned hit ‘Agent Double-O-Soul’
(R&B #8/Pop #21). More Ric-Tic hits followed before Berry Gordy
bought out Starr's contract in 1967 and took him and his music to the
fabled Motown imprint, making the James Brown and Stax influenced singer
the rawest vocalist on the celebrated label.

SOUL MASTER was Starr's debut album and was released on Motown's
Gordy imprint in 1968. With soul music in the 60's, and especially with
Motown, the emphasis was on singles, so the album did not chart but does
boast a number of R&B hit singles. These include the aforementioned
‘Agent Double-O-Soul’ and Starr's other top ten Ric-Tic release, 1966's
‘Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S)’ (R&B #9/Pop #48/UK #35), as well as
‘Headline News’ (Pop #84). Two more singles, issued on Gordy, charted in
the US during the same year as the album release. These were ‘I Am The
Man For You Baby’ (R&B #45/Pop #112) and ‘Way Over There’ (Pop
#119).

INVOLVED was Starr's fifth LP for the Gordy imprint on Motown Records
and was released in 1971. Reaching #45 R&B and a respectable #178
Pop INVOLVED was guided by legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield
who, along with song writing partner Barrett Strong, contributed the
majority of the cuts on this album. Whitfield has both Starr and the
session musicians playing as hard and explosive as he can, marking this
album out as one of the rawest recordings ever released under the Motown
banner.

•Thelma Houston first signed with Motown records in 1971, following the 1969 release of her critically-acclaimed Jim Webb-produced album "Sunshower.” Her self-titled debut Motown album was released on Mowest in 1972 (and reissued by Soulmusic records as an expanded edition in 2012, SMCR 5072). Subsequently, she spent the next few years recording a large amount of material – much of which was initially unreleased save for literally a handful of singles issued between 1973 and 1977.

•In 1977, Motown assembled a second Thelma Houston album Any Way You Like It and included was a cover that altered Thelma’s career trajectory forever – her take on ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way,’ a track from a 1975 album by Philadelphia International Records group Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes. After a Boston record pool of club DJs began playing it and getting immediate reaction, it was released as a single and became a Grammy-winning global hit for Thelma, topping the US pop, R&B and dance charts.

•This expanded edition of Any Way You Like It includes six bonus tracks: the single version of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ and its non-LP "B” side ‘Today Will Soon Be Yesterday’); non-album singles, the Grammy-winning ‘You’ve Been Doing Wrong So Long’ and ‘One Out Of Every Six’; and Thelma’s long sought-after ultra-rare version of ‘Do You Know Where You’re Going To’ (only ever issued in New Zealand), subsequently recorded by Diana Ross as the theme for her 2nd film, "Mahogany” along with the "B” side, ‘Together’.

•Liner notes by Soulmusic.com founder David Nathan include 2014 quotes from Thelma.

NB: This title is released 16th Feb 2015 and will not be dispatched until this date.

Track Listing:

1.ANY WAY YOU LIKE IT

2.DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY

3.DON'T KNOW WHY I LOVE YOU

4.COME TO ME

5.DON'T MAKE ME PAY (FOR ANOTHER GIRL'S MISTAKE)

6.SHARING SOMETHING PERFECT BETWEEN OURSELVES

7.IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO

8.DIFFERENTLY

BONUS TRACKS

9.DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO (PREVIOUSLY ISSUED ONLY IN NEW ZEALAND)